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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou le^ planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont film6es d partir de I'angle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche i droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Le didgramme suivant illustre la m6thode : V [. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 'tf^ •• Cents. '■> (^*, . ■ ^.x\ pp 'm 'm k / / u ^-^p ' "^ I PREFACE TO LA MORALE DES JESUITES BY PAUL BERT, MKMBEU OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES OF FRANCE, PROFESSOR IN THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE. TRANSLATED FROM THE 15th PARIS EDITION. MONTREAL : W. DRYSDALE & CO., 232 ST. JAMES STREET. 1889. "The members of the Society are scattered through- out all parts of the world and divided into as many nations and kingdoms as the earth itself — a division nevertheless which is characterized only by remote- ness of place, not of sentiment ; by difference of language, not of feeling ; by variety of faces, not of customs. In this family the Roman thinks as the Greek, the Portuguese as the Brazilian, the Erse as the Sclav, the Spaniard as the French, the English as the Fleming ; and among so many varieties of genius there is no dispute, no contention, notJiingivhich would suggest that they are more than one Place of birth offers to them no motive of personal interest. The same design, the same maimer^ the same voiu, zvhicJi like the marriage tie has bound them together. By the slightest sign one single man szvays the entire Society, and determines the course of this vast body. It is easy to move, but difficult to shake.'' — PictJire of the first era of the Society of fesus: publish- ' 'vith the authorization of Mutio Vitelleschi, Gcii^,. . .jf the Society, 1640. *' These doctrines, the consequence of which would go to destroy the law of nature — that moral standard which God himself has imprinted on the heart of man, — and hence to break all the bonds of civil society, since they authorize theft, falsehood, perjury, impurity the most criminal, and generally all passions as well as all crimes, by teaching secret compensation, equivocations, mental reservations, probabilism and philosophical sin ; to destroy all feelings of humanity among men, since they favor homicide and parricide ; to over*-hrow the royal authority, etc — Decree of the Parliament of Paris, March 5th, 1762. ■aBm laaii PREFACE. OBJECT AND PLAN OF THE BOOK. On the 2 1 St June, 1879, there was opened in the Chamber of Deputies the discussion of a proposed law on "the Liberty of Higher Education," of which the most important clause (Art. 7) prohibited instruc- tion of all grades by Jesuits and members of other religious orders not recognized by the State, On that day I delivered a speech * in which I endeavored to show from a purely political point of view the danger to the peace and moral unity of our country arising from the instruction given by this sect, which has carried the germs of civil war wher- ever it has gained a foothold, which all countries have cursed and expelled, and the members of which ought, according to the terms of existing French legislation, to be conducted to the frontier without further delay. Some days afterwards, the Minister of Public In- struction, in support of the same position, brought to the tribune some quotations taken from historical works by Jesuits — quotations which excited the in- * See page 559. Note. — The pages herein referred to in brackets are pages of the French version of La Morale des Jesuites, by Paul Bert, iSth edition. The works referred to are the Compendium Theologiae Moralis and Casus Conscientioe, 5th ed., Lyons Briday, 1875. There is a later edition published by the S. C. de Propaganda Fide, Rome, 1878. on . from a higher poinf.f "P-'^'der/ng the ques- opinions as to the nLr„ r °^ '"^'''- All historkpl O" y one of the nart;^,"; °''''^''= "f" 'he future are principles. I therefore 1 I'^PP'-'^^'ons of ethical of the Jesuits, an" °r ^'g 'ed 'fhi^ "'P-' 'eaTh ,g Chamber on the cth Inl ,«! * °''' "'^ ^ar of th? « the outset the eloquent ..l^*, ^ ""^^''^d b iefly Passmg to more recent tl.T''' °'" P^^«' ; then tracts from the prooffand T'' ^ "'^^'' numerous ex decree passed byThe Pa"l'""''''^"'o"« °f the famous" March ,762 ; f came ne'r?"' °^ ^^'^ °" the 5th showed at once the J !'^ '° modern times a.li Pdious doctrines, and t"he""'^ -"eptanceTf ih«e mstruction given not onlv . '""-"^""'on into , hi younger children, °"'^ *° ^o^hs, but even ,0 i'mally, a friendly hand h, • , ";xt day some inteSg eS ''r}'^''' '° "^^ the of the Jesuit Gury who , ''"^''"'^ t from the works P"tirely unknown to me J / T'\ <^°"'"^«s, was then msert them in a rep°y to M de I^'r'"*^^^ °^ 'he a t" The effect of the soelrh Ct ^ Bassetiere* say without van ty fujl ^vf 'i"' "^"'y ^^^s, I may ■ ber was visibly moved ^^'^^"'■''"^'•y The Cham 't entire, alone Told mor^^hi"""""?'' '''^''^ P^fe' cpp,es. I received nZberi^,'' ''""^^^^ thousand t'on, or rather, of thantl / ''>"ers of congratur^ l°r. fro- all parts of FrLnc'e"'R T" ^^-tched "out and Canada ; from all the connV^ '^'"J" ' Switzerland See pagej^^: — ■ -— ___£J^JVaaing. T Unfortunately, ther^ h^ri •^ See page 639. ^"iportance. It was not the fault of these last that the medal did not have a reverse side, and that the profound joy which all these marks of sympathy gave me was not marred by their insults and threats. But they could not succeed ; my contempt for them rendered me insensible to their attacks.* According to the most moderate of those who abused me, I had made use of falsified texts ; I had even falsified some of them myself. Pascal, Dumoulin, Pasquier, La Chalotais, and so many others, falsifiers ! The Parliamentary Commissioners falsifiers ! I was at least in good company. ■ I should not have cared much for this had there not been amongst my accusers several ecclesiastical functionaries, including two or three bishops, one of whom, M. Frcppel, challenged me directly in the harshest terms. I then resolved to prepare a reply, and began one — a pamphlet which threatened to become rather long. It was after the custom hitherto adopted, a statement of Jesuitical doctrines, a collection of new quotations drav/n directly from the original sources^ with satirical reflections and indignant remarks ; in short, an imitation more or le:.s happy of the immortal Provincial Letters. * It would be impossible to give reasonable people, who are ignorant of the resources which hatred supplies to the ingenuity of Churchmen, any idea of the insults and abuse which were heaped upon me by the Jesuits and their natural allies. It was a veritable rage : spumat rabies vesaita per ora. A medic "1 journal of Vienna, which has done me the honor of publishing a long biographical notice, sums up all these results of Catholic charity in the following terms : " The Catholic journals call him a libertine, a shameless materialist, a man tainted with all the foul vices of Paris, a disgrace to the French tribune, a scoundrel, a rake, a grub ! It is plain from these bursts of rage that Paul Bert has hit the dark fraternity only too well." And I may say the Austrian journal has kept quite within the mark. I do not speak of some grosser assaults, the authors of which have just been punished by the police authorities of Paris. But a glance over the catalogue of the National Library led me all at once to change my plan. I foresaw that my book, after a temporary success, would soon fall into the oblivion in which sleep so many other works of the same kind, though in many cases marvels of wit, logic, learning, and eloquence, — an oblivion into which, it must be owned, even the Provincial Letters themselves have fallen. This public indifference, to be so general, must have some reason for it. How then are we to explain it ? how escape it ? Whence arises the uselessness of so many efforts, often powerful enough in themselves ? After careful enquiry, I believe I have found the explanation of it. Suppose a book written such as I had first thought of. Suppose it possesses all the good qualities imaginable — the bitter raillery of Pascal, the haughty indignation of La Chalotais, the lofty eloquence of Michelet, the winged po.'^try of Quinet. Put it into the hands of some man who is wise, moderate, and liberal, to whom the Jesuits occasion a kind of secret uneasiness, but who is afraid to appear as an enemy of religion. Men of this class are by no means rare, for at the present moment they make up nearly the whole bourgeois class of France. And it is important that this class should be convinced above all others ; in the first place, because it is their opinion, and not that of extreme men or of men of I* ^ action, which will make common public opinion ; and *| - further, because it is around the children of such that the Jesuits are prowling. In cases where the wives are under their control, the daughters are already in their hands, and the sons are in danger of becoming so. Suppose such a man opens the book and reads it through. At first he is aroused and even indignant. But see him again a month later. You say to him, " You have read the book ? What quotations these are ! It is abominable ! It is crushing ! " " Yes, yes," he replies, *' but, after all, now that I have thought over it, it does not prove very much. First of all, these quotations are very old. These men of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and even of the eighteenth century, could not be expected to have the same ideas as we have on moral subjects any more than upon political ones. To reproach the Jesuits ot Lhomond Street with the maxims of Tolet, Emmanuel Sa, Fagundez, Suarez, Filliucius, and so many others who were dead before Pascal's time, is to transgress the bounds of fair controversy ; it is to blend a dead theology with ever-living morality, and systematically to confound different historical periods. As well set the League beside the French Revolution and make the one responsible for the other ! *' Besides, the manner of speaking has wholly changed. The coarse language that was common in those distant times would excite indignation to-day. Sanchez could not now be reprinted. Think of Rabelais and Brantome, the pets of court ladies ! What princess now would spend the night, as did the young Mary of Prussia, in copying La Puceile, and openly say so? These shameful things in the old casuists do not mean anything for modern times. "And, then, what confidence is to be placed in these extracts ? Of course, the author has copied them accurately ; the knaves who accuse their opponents of falsifying texts, merely prove that they themselves are the ones capable of doing it. But, in the first place, they are hard to verify ; they are taken from rare books, which are found only in the large libraries. And, then, as for this author, he is a partisan bound to gain his point, and we must suppose him to have acted accordingly. Now, how many Jesuit writers there are, and how many volumes have they written ! They are to be counted by hundreds, and some of them in folio ! All that mass is searched through in every 10 nook and corner, without distinction of date, country or moral temperament ; sentences are extracted, and shreds of sentences, abominable things, I confess, which at first made me start. But, after all, what of it ? Everything is artfully mixed up ; lines written centuries apart are brought together ; they are fitted and framed in a skilful statement. Worse than all, they are detached from their context ; they are sepa- rated from the principles which gave them their philosophical value, or from the applications which gave them their practical value. It is like the differ- ence between the flowers of a dead collection and those of the open fields. Who knows whether the exception has not sometimes been taken for the rule, the subordinate clause for the principal sentence, the limitation for the principle ? Add to all that, unavoid- able errors, alterations in texts often quoted at second-hand, and lastly, faults of translation in these difficult matters No, decidedly, all that does not convince me ; it is a piece of special pleading, clever, I grant, and doubtless sincere, at least as far j as it is possible for a partisan to be sincere. But the j more I think of it, the less I am satisfied. It is ever i the old adage : — ' Give me four lines from a man and I I will hang him.' Your book is a striking one, but it ; proves nothing." I So such a man will speak ; so I have heard people ! speak many a time. True, it will not be hard for one to reply, but as for the book, it can make no reply. I Besides, they will generally refuse to listen to you ; the reader has formed his conclusion, he is set free from an irritating question ; he has found the means of avoiding, perhaps, some household quarrel ; to discuss with him is like trying to draw out a nail by hammering it on the head. But what is to be done then ? Ask him and he will answer : — *' What must be done is to show me I m^i^mam If that the modern Jesuits, those with whom we have to deal, those to whose care my wife wishes me to send my son, still profess the same doctrines and use the same language as those of former days, who, I readily grant, were not deserving of high regard." It is said, indeed, that none of them ever could, or can, now print books without the permission of their superiors, and that thus there does not exist among them any separate or individual opinion. I have even read somewhere that they boasted of using only one lan- guage, and thinking only one thought, and that one of their Generals declared, " Let them be as they are, or let them cease to be." But these are only gene- ralities written for the sake of effect, to strike an attitude, so to speak. It is said, on the other hand, that they are so shrewd, so insinuating, so conciliatory, so flexible ! These two kinds of reproach contradict each other. For my part, I believe they have put themselves on a level with their surroundings, and have suited themselves to modern times. " Surely, it should not be hard to see to the bottom of the whole matter. There are books written quite recently, in which Jesuits still living state the whole system of their doctrines. That is what I would like to be able to read. I should, then, have a true idea of matters, by seeing them all in their proper con- nection, without the intervention of a third party, who must be always under suspicion. But these are large volumes, tiresome as can be, it is said, and I have no time to read them. Besides, they are in Latin ; now, between ourselves, my Latin is some- what rusty, and I was never very proficient. " What I would like is that some modern book be taken — a whole book, written by some Jesuit of acknowledged authority, and that it should be translated without abridgement, omitting only what is of no interest to me, for I care little about metaphysics, and still less 12 M' I T 1' V about theoloffv Th,f to be a/de^ T"^"''°"^ for ou selves ,JIt "'""''^ '^^= ^'^o very ofte' T'"^ ^y fn complete a We^a's feXV'T^' ''"' " ^S oHhe .hole ran,e ofTZl^ ZZT.^T'^^^^- As for the cases „l-> ""« '^e present '5 abundance of which in the Reverend Father Gury's oral teaching, it would appear, gave his course an altogether peculiar relish, the choice has been much easier. I have taken, in the first place, a large part of those in which common lay morality would find fault with the Jesuitical solutions of them ; then, those which are interesting in themselves, either be- cause they reveal the skirmish of tricky devices which is often set up in the confessional between the confes- sor and his penitent, or because they illustrate gro- tesque superstitions, or because they furnish evidence of the erotic preoccupation which haunts the imagina- tion of the Jesuit in all circumstances and places, and leads him to introduce the res venerece into all matters of casuistry. I have added to the text a certain number of notes. Some are meant to show the agreement which still exists between the present doctrines of the order, as stated by Gury, and the principles of the earlier Jesuits.* It will be easy to see, also, that in spite of certain modifications of form forced upon them by the difficulties of the times, the Jesuits have discarded none of their former doctrines, not even those which * The texts which I quote are borrowed from the famous " Extracts from dangerous and pernicious assertions of all kinds by the so-called Jesuits, verified and collated by the Commissioners of the Parliament of Paris, 1762 ; I vol. quarto, 544 pages." It is to this volume that the figures of my quotations refer. It is well known that the Jesuits have tried to rebut this formidable collection, by taking advantage of a certain number of errors, of no importance, which they have pointed out and added up, and the fright- ful total of which, 758, they are continually proclaiming. This is how they are made up according to the " Reply" in four large volumes, made by Fathers Grou and Sauvage : — In the Lai in Extract s. Mistakes as to the letter and sense of the text of the Author. . 41 Suppression of sentences in the text 261 Mutilation of the text 61 Unfair statements 94 457 16 ^ere denounced by Pasc;,! . ^ , ^l condemned L J ^"^ ^^'^ich Fon^ j the^f^ ri^ trujnea m j^rg /-^., "-" ^ope innocent those ofTV "'^ ''"t^duced /ntn T'"' ■^''°»- how logical annl.w- ^'^^"^'^ that mav hi^' . ' "^^^'e Vu ^PP^^cations of [esn.>,Voi ^ °^ considered a«; , -ine analysis of fi.!-^ ,^'^^^ Pnncipies • ___^_^«ertation upon the Tn.nsh,i„„s contary to ih/^' ""'"'' ^"■'''"•- " -''-o„or.e3l-»-;^;.,....::;;;:;.:::;;;;..^.a , in alj fairness th^ ^s"it. in order to iLf T^'' "^'^^ absoJiueJv n ?u"' '''^'^^ text."Tn page after page of exSan.?" ^""^^tion/fs fo'ced ? ^',"^ ^' '-»"• The ;^epIy/'(;4j;^;^^P^a^^^^^^ which accounts ir'^''^^" ^^■"'sdf in f-Iiame„t are t ^fc "' '\' Jesur"V;r,.S V^'X ""^ o"e "hey have reproached me nn/" "'' ^^^e level a/,f/'"'"'^'«'°ns of Page 507. ""-" "-^ i-'-f-aderof Z-oKtr^^S'j'^.of 17 1 sixth and ninth commandments of the decalogue, i which we owe to a pen authorized and dear to the I Jesuits, that of Abbe Rousselot, Professor in the great j Seminary of Grenoble, and chief author (after Mile. I de la Merliere) of the shameless farce called the 1 Apparition of La Salette. Here I have greatly abridged and left much of it in Latin for obvious I reasons. May I be pardoned for having translated almost entire, while softening the terms, the corres- ponding passages of Gury. It appeared to me neces- sary to show all to what a degree of aberration the casuistical mania can lead, and how in reality the abominable Sanchez is still truly alive, if not brought to perfection. And when we think that this book is intended for young confessors, and for the pupils of the great seminaries, we ask what all these descrip- tions and meditations must give rise to in the brains of young celibates. A second addition * is the list of the sixty-five propositions condemned by Pope Innocent XL, March i6th, 1679. The calumnies of Pascal, as the Jesuits call them, will have served some purpose, for the most of these propositions had been pointed out by him on the Jesuit texts, and denounced in his Letters to a Provincial. Since then the Jesuits have got round these condemnations with admirable skill, and have set up upon their feet, with scarce a limp, all of these propositions that could present any prac- tical interest. Finally, the book ends by the reproduction from Le Journal Officiel of the speeches which originated all this discussion. Such is the book. It is now for the reader to judge. I shall allow myself only one last observation. Some faults of translation must have escaped me. * Page 549- i8 It could not be otherwise in so long a work, done so quickly, and dealing with a Latin so strangle and sometimes so obscure. I count upon my enemies to point them out to me, and I earnestly beg them to set to work at once, in order that I may be able to profit by their criticisms, for my excellent publisher has kept the plates in view of these corrections. With regard to whatever faults of this order there may be, and to others of an analogous kind, I cannot do better than protect myself behind a very reasonable passage of the Jesuit writer of the famous Reply to the assertions of Parliament : "We should not push too far exactitude and caution in a work such as this, •where it is difficult altogether to escape faults, which will infallibly be pointed out by our enemies, and magnified in the eyes of the public as capital errors, however slight they may be. We are convinced that the main matter of the work does not leave them any reply, and that the only resource left them is to lay hold of some slips which do not better their cause." : This reservation was a rather queer one from his pen, since it answered in advance all his cavils on the work of the Parliamentary Commissioners. It is more appropriately placed here. I may observe, in conclusion, that Gury's books are in the market at everybody's disposal for a moderate price, and that thus all those who feel bound to do so may easily compare and criticise both my selections and my translation. ■ II. .' SUMMARY OF THE BOOK. The first impression which a simple layman experi- ences on perusing a Jesuit Coinpeudium is astonish- ment mingled with fear. This book is everything, or at least pretends to be everything. Canon law, civil law, criminal law, even commercial law, procedure, and, on the other hand, sciences divin? and human, everything is found collected there. One feels that the pupil who is strongly impregnated with it during his studies, who carries it with him on leaving the seminary, sometimes to a remote country district, where beside the breviary, catechism, and the confes- sor's manual, it will form his whole library, must be persuaded that everything is found in it which may be needed to guide him in his conduct towards men, and in his relations with heaven. Nothing has escaped the casuist, and the priest will find in it ready- made solutions on everything : his book in hand he will be able to descant upon the first principles of morals, or upon the legal validity of trusts, upon the sacrament of the Eucharist, or upon the theory of margins. Society can no more have any hold on him or teach ^lim anything ; his chiefs have foreseen all. When from this general glance he comes to the study of any part whatever of this encyclopaedia, at once sacred and profane, the layman is then struck with the absence of any general principles, of any rule embracing a considerable number of facts or of ideas. Everywhere, on the contrary, there is an aching for narrow definitions, and especially for division or 20 classification, which breaks down the principle, con- tracts it, slackens it or reduces it, to a compilation of many petty aphorisms that might afterwards be easily 11 made to oppose each other. Take, for example, the chapter on conscience. Immediately after a defini- tion which appears to be a negation of free-will altogether, here are the divisions : conscience is dis- tinguished as rigJit or erroneous^ certain or doubtful^ etc. (p. 23); then the detailed definitions and second- ary divisions ; conscience vincibly erroneous or inviu' cibly erroneous ; invincibly erroneous which orders^ invincibly erroneous which permits^ etc. As well might we distinguish truth that is true, truth that is doubtful, truth that \s false. These sublime words by such treatment lose all lofty meaning, all sacredness ; and that is what the casuist wished : he will after- wards hold them cheap. A third surprise to the reader not accustomed to books of this kind is the facility with which the most monstrous consequences are deduced from an excellent principle. It is ever the old sophism of the hair plucked out and the bald head ; one hair plucked out does not make it bald, nor two, nor three, nor &c., — when then will it become bald ? Circumstances added one by one to the original truth turn it into a scan- dalous error, even as water added drop by drop to generous wine turns it into the paltriest beverage wii-hout our knowing at what moment the change has taken place. One feels filled with anguish, as if carried along upon a fatal declivity, the blades of grass coming away under his hand. This is the great power of the casuist and the height of his art ; he knows that, wearied with the struggle, the victim will in the long run let himself roll to the bottom. And what will he find there ? The softest of beds on which to rest, soft as mud — probabilism. We have here the veritable pillow of doubt, though not in the 21 n- of I sense in which Montaigne understood it. No more ly I principles ; only their fragments have reached the le I abyss, and upon each of them a casuist wrangles and j harangues. For every question he holds a solution ready in his hand ; he offers it to the passer-by, and as he is, according to the Jesuit formula, a doctor, a man of probity and learning, his opinion becomes probable, and the passer-by can choose, in the peace- fulness of his erroneous conscience, what suits his purpose best among all these solutions which the hands of the doctors hold out to him. And mark, that if he takes one of them to-day he can to-morrow decide in favor of the opposite opinion, if he should have ever so little interest in doing so. ( Vide pp. 33, 43, &c.) The confessor, his master in so many things, is here helpless, and he must yield and give absolution whenever the penitent can sustain himself by the opinion of a director, though he may have had to search long for him. ( Vide pp. 35, 41.) How can one help rejoicing in this convenient doctrine, and repeating the thanksgiving of Escobar : " In truth when I consider so many different senti- ments upon matters of morality, I look upon it as a happy design of providence, inasmuch as this variety of opinions helps us to bear more pleasantly the yoke of the Lord." I do not urge this further, for the avenging curses of Pascal still vibrate in the memories of all. But it will be enough to peruse the present book to see that the Jesuits have in no wise giv^en up the notorious doctrine ai probabilism (pp. 28, 37) and oi pJiilosopJdcal sin, a product of the invincibly erroneous conscience. (pp. 24, 26, 31.) This fact may have consequences ridiculous or monstrous. See what, in the skilful hands of Jesuits, this self- evident and primary principle may become : " Where there is no evil intention there can be no sin in con- 22 science." Since th Titus, kil Shis fr? h' "leaning to kin v ''^"^^« *at would have' be:;"°'°"':^^'^ '° 'afn'junuTr' "ot the efflr^.- ^" ^'"^ ' ^e was onlv fif ^^'^ "« hfmsen 7? '''''"•' ^ause of de^fh ^, ^?^ occasion "a£?ZfTf - £^"' - ^^^^^^^^^^^^ bound to^Se fpa J'"^'- ^^^^n the iasf-.o ' -^ been realN/P^'^ation only for th»;- — One is fa-iJed Mari. '""f "•" Thus, V Jacoh ^"""^ ^''^^ ^^^ to the ffmX ^"1 '"s drunkenness L''y '>>■ ^'s 'hemnoTarnT'll-fK^-^--^ S,trL"°'!'''"^ service, since he has h ^''^'' ^'^ ''as rendered i'^""^ ruined i A i;**, "'"dered them frrim k • ^^^'^ a « 'lere one remark o ' ^'•'*»^Kt« 23 the highest significance. Gury complains somewhere (p. 257) with charming naivet^ "of the difficulty there is in harmonizing the laws of conscience with thqse of the Civil Code." I may say that that is easy to understand, and that a priori there must be often im- portant differences between the decision of the judge of the conscience, that is to say, of the intentions, as we imagine the priest must be, and the solution of the lay magistrate in fact, or of the civil law in prin- ciple. But in what sense ought the difference to show . itself? In the sense, it would seem, of greater severity on the part of the religious judge. In fact,, at the outset, the civil magistrate can condemn only when to the bad intention is joined the act, the attempt at execution. In principle, the civil law,. which is not charged with the duty of pacifying consciences, but of maintaining order in society, is obliged to forego condemnation on many actions which the religious judge ought to condemn. Now,, is this the case with the Jesuits ? Far from it ! and examples are not wanting. Here is a thief; he ought to make restitution, nobody doubts that, and the civil magistrate will compel him to it by all the methods of justice. But he consults the casuist, and the latter ' authorizes him to delay the restitution when he cannot make it " without losing a situation justly acquired," that is to say, acquired by a theft, (p. 201.) Here is a simpleton, Simplicius, who has foolishly allowed the horse which he had borrowed to be stolen. So much the worse for you, the civil judge will say ; you shall pay for the horse. Oh, no ! ex- ' claims the gentle casuist ; he is so silly ! (p. 239.) Here is Quirinus, who enters a shop in order to steal, holding a candle in his hand ; a cat springs out, upsets the candle ; the place takes fire and every- thing is burned. I do not know what the civil judge will say, but I know well what lay morality would say • as fn u ■ *"=, '"O'-a; jSd^e ^ S^'' judge Wil be nn'' 'f "^ ^"^ "°-h'"?- (p. "32)'r>^« "0 fear zS'''"'^'''« seminarv fvlitr '^„ "^''e is Philfa/' ^^P'l'i'm owes ^^Pelled as ° -t"""'^ one of hf'' '^ ='"dent ,„ 41 commft?ed thel^ °'" ' 'hefAyhtchT't"'' '° be nothmg; the jesufe,"^^'" 'he c w' fu T"' ^""^ *« auction wio "^- (P- 2^?) n\ ^^"'Pts Philh^ i";Pnsonn,e^t b^Ce °tf "^^ P^n'^liabirb^^f '"& '° absolves him r ''"^ eivil hiH„^ T ''"e and e^-amples to ev^4/<^-^ F'nally^^n^ot' t'''' ^^^^'^t murderer of r^- ^^' ''^ we return f ,'° ^ultiplv ,^^«a'-n)y make 'h"?;"-^ ^<=« ^^a" 4/° .Adelbert, S^ h-m uhom he has ?-„P7 ^^^ages to th ^^'^^^ W''" ^^r^rf-SCaf^^^^^ ^f 'bert dfd\{:l' •r''- Wsrndl"^;- a Jns" ^ M" the at?; .? " °" Purpose-iri: . °^ a" that • observation' 1^^" -^ tbe^adTr'^to 'th'"°"-"''- ' P''<=^epts, or of cas^, 1"'^ '" 'he bool . ^'"^'■^' monv with ^u ^'^^> which am . j ^ a number nf t'=- 'an ather' sP^r^'P'-ons o7 ct^°r'''^^'>- '" har! • ^^"ees not o„ ace""' *a" approveV^'^''"' ^^bich aft'on, or of the n"' ""^ ^be honor'l^"'^ "■'"''^b it ^tberu-ise would n/'''^!'^P*' but becal ?^"" o^" the j.cite only o°,e of th'^''°" ^^ve socS f '° P^^ed 25 • intervene. Now the casuist dispenses the son from carrying out the wish of his dying father, (p. 295.) In one word, the casuist always accepts the solutions of the civil law when they can be used in favor of the morally guilty ; but when the latter is condemned thereby, he endeavors to furnish him many a device for escaping. For it is one of the features of Jesuitical casuistry always to take part with the offender, and this is by no means the least important reason for its decisive triumph over Jansenist rigor. Between the robber and the robbed the Jesuit never hesitates ; he puts himself on the side of the robber. See the examples which I have just cited. When the question is one of making restitution, he is all honey for the thief ; he must not be forced to " deprive himself of his servants, or of his friends," but all the while the man robbed may quietly die of hunger. He exempts Simplicius, without any thought for the lender of horses who loses his beast ; he cares nothing for the merchant burnt out by Quirinus any more than he does for Andrew and his broken leg, or for the poor fellow whose sale Olympius has spoiled, or for Albinus, dishonored and ruined, or than for the innocent heirs of the murdered Caius. No ! his sympathies are elsewhere. Is it surprising that Parliaments have expelled the Jesuits ? How much might be said on secret compensation so energetically condemned by the civil law and lay morality, so completely approved and sometimes so ingeniously taught by the Jesuits, (pp. 59, 186, 287, 290, 311.) The theory and the practice of this art of stealing are found in many passages of the book, and one shudders to think of how many prisoners, the teaching of the Jesuits falling upon a nation disposed to receive it, must have sent to answer at the bar of criminal justice. And the theory of theft properly so- 26 called! Its „ person robbpf'^^^'i-'' ^"ordinff to fho ,- accordinrto fh "'^ ""' ^^ our cnd^ '^"'""^ °f the t'°n does not neeri\'V''Sht theft for !,k 'u"''S'^'-y, towards thp ,h r. '° ^e made • /„,,.[ "^'"'^^ restitu- T^-'''y etS\°^^°'"est'c37p^ 'f;, "d"'&ences °f'nterest;nffGj.'''^ftfP-i84)-and flf^' ^"'^ 'he How man?, X^'' '" the success nf ^"'^ Possibility ^b^urds^p^r'^^^g^^t'-ii are there [o',*'^'';'- ^P' '85^ supposed d^emt^' '-^^''- '^' '45) fo??'' °'- ^h4 possession Tp ,o ' ^ '^'"^ turntne./" n -^""TP'^' the political fol^u°d{7ofT"" '"f-Se'w ilf^'°"«' from thePhM^^u ;^^ '^^^''"q-sonivh^M- ^^<^^mons- •■r^ranc;'r\^P;46),-dUS/te^'''^'''P°"-'-' ■'et'els, as smkS. '^ ' heretics mn.'i ""ost savaee calls for th„^^^ '■ "" terrible spnf« ""^^r 'ts law, ^'^'W-n a^tsTtt ^''^'' -"th?'^b;:t'"'''°^''«% against informl""/" "''" fpp. ^6o ^rV"" "^ 'heir ^o-'-ef'-gio^ St 7s I "'" P'-otestan? ^ll^^ ^ Prohibition audacious nfri. ^^'"8' and calUniT 't^'^' 'hat his ;-Vaugbt':^T S^o^^ the re^<;'t;;'r?mtt ™f [^ ''^ (pp. q:;6 .r\^" -^^); estate anr?^"^ equality of ;.''" '- of'fnlS'-' ^:!' '-"s'r//;:;'^ °^ -o^m^:; dues and tollsTo' ,^ ^P '«) ; defr;?,!?-' ^'"'''°" of of sins accordi^f ,f ;,-'°6j , differencefn "tf '"^'""^^ or not-a trulv^fp •'"'>' ""ay be very 1?, ^^ S-i-avity the murder of a{ '"'''^' discovery Xn^'""f^&eous certain condiH^ "mocent ner.n; ^^P "-' '24) • the theory of^"' "'^ ^'^'Y £reat °k ^''"'"^cd under' ^^e destruction ru""^ '^^''m^y recnm ^ ^^ introduced ^^ ot parental 27 authority when the question is one of entering into religious orders, and brutal harshness towards parents (pp. 1 1 6, 119, 346) ; the art of theft in gambling (p. 320) ; the lawfulness of slavery and the slave trade (P- ^73) I t^G unlawful opening of dead bodies (p. 361) ; the most unblushing usury, sheltered behind the proscription of the Church which forbids lending money at interest (pp. 268 to 273, 275);* the violation * I cannot resist the temptation to analyze the interesting chapter on usury, that is to say, on lending at interest. It is well known that the Catholic Church forbids it absolutely, and one likes to see in this an application of the principle of charity which, in spite of its exaggera- tion, sits well on the Christian moralist. Let us see how the casuist has turned the difficulty ; that was important for the Jesuits, who are skilful handlers of money. But it was difficult in face of the 41st proposition, condemned by Innocent XI. It is forbidden to me, then, on lending you 1,000 francs, which you are to return to me in ten years, to say to you : " Each year you will give me 50 francs interest." But first of all, in lending you this money, I may suffer a certain loss, I do not know exactly how much, but I can foresee :" . It is right then that I should protect myself from it in advance, by stipulating, for example, that in ten years you shall return me not 1,000 francs, but good 2,000 francs, if I estimate at 1,000 francs the loss which I shall have suffered. And, then, I can no longer make use of this money but in my business or my trade. Now, I would have reaped much benefit from it. I estimate at 1,000 francs the profit which I might have made in this way in two years ; you have pre- vented me doing so. Here is, then, 1,000 francs more, that you shall return me at the appointed time. But this is not all. What security have I that you will repay me ? Ten years is a long time. I have to run a risk ; that is fairly worth 500 francs, inasmuch as you are not counted very solvent. Lastly, I fully count on your paying me at the appointed day. But if that should not take place ? If you should be behind ? Remem- ber that I count on my money at the precise moment. If you do not repay me it will be 10 francs for every day's delay. You may take it or leave it ! That is more than there is need for, it would seem, and the poor borrower would much prefer to be made to pay 5 per cent, on his capital. The pupil of the casuist would also be well quit of his imaginary expenses. But fear not ! If the civil law permits lending at interest, that is to say, limits it, as is done in France ; lo ! at once this practice solemnly forbidden by the Church, "in virtue of natural law, divine and ecclesiastical," becomes permitted. Still further, the lender may stipulate for compound interest ; further still, he may exceed the limit of the legal rate if his debtor is not in great distress ; motto of thl h?, ^^'•''ament of Par; '^Sre 'f the con '^^^ .^'--'ndalous s„h- '''^' '" the stud,, 7' "^^'f in ^"'^ "'"th comman^^J^«^." '^at fe to^^*^ "'^at they exact from ever„. " '^"'^'^ ^^mseJf n^ JnT: ^^^ 29 it manifests itself by a superabundance of lascivious investigations, a love of obscene details, an invention of unclean circumstances, which much surpasses everything that the authors of Justine and of Gamiani were able to imagine.* But what is more interesting by far is to see these lecherous thoughts pre-occupy and haunt the head of the Jesuit so constantly, that he lets himself be over- powered by them in many subjects with which they appear to have absolutely nothing to do. If he is discussing invincible ignorance he takes as example children, "qui egeruntde se illicita " (p. 6) ; if indirect will, it is Luban and his carnal temptations (p. 15), if a consequence of violence it is Susanna (p. 8), or Bertina and her master (p. 17); if erroneous conscience, it is Ferdinand, George, Gustavus, a child of ten years, and his " tactus turpes " on his cousin-german (p. 38), &c., &c. (see especially cases on confession). If the question is that of the general theory of sin in intention, the only example which comes to his mind is that " in confession when one acknowledges a desire to commit fornication, he must declare the circum- stances of relationship, affinity, marriage, chastity, which relate to the person desired. (Compare Diss. I., No. 167.) Then with what richness of invention does he detail the reserved cases (p. 385), and the hindrances to marriage (p. 463), with the unclean woman of Ludimilla (p. 464), and cases by the hundred, which rise before the eye in all parts of the book. And in what a grossly lewd way does he always view the question of marriage, yielding and desiring the con- * Wonder after this that those who impregnate themselves with this moral teaching come to the most monstrous practical results. I have established in my report on the proposed law of M. Barodet (Primary Instruction), that in these last two years our tribunals, by no means likely to be prejudiced against them, have condemned for crimes and outrages against morality about four times in proportion of ecclesi- astical instructors than of lay. ■♦« 30 i"gal function • hfc fi , there ar. V f •'^"' "'"'"a"- In the jl , '^""'^mpt which ^im and ^^ri.^- , ^^^^^^^' senses in //. ' ^"cense, EveryvW '""■'"P^'^'^^ofgo^^^^^^^ '° 'he and love .h ^ '"^"'fetations of '? &«>erosity. and have evl^ ''^^''^ P'^^ed "oman ''^'''' ^'■"""de S'de, for pohv'v (X ^' '^ 'of the worM f„ ... i^ the masK'r"'^'-'- fo"- 'he ma^ ° f *' °"- speak- when fL ^" ^'^ ^>'ell. But 1: , / '''°'"='n mysUc earL^^J"''^ ^-"o"? themseL >' ''.°''' *ey cus: ''FrnrvT ^ ^^^^ brutal vvnrrio r^^"°^^^ers. mind this tn,i°/'"^"- (P- 531) "Pn ^"'^ '^o™ "ess oft an "than 7' ^"^>' " Bettef & °" r"-" 4'9) In all f^ " "'" good deed of =. wicked- '-'''he.d,-ssertat,-onst5:;r:f™"Ji': .a^BBa 31 tempt for the daughter of Eve, the first corruptress, manifests itself, often under the grossest form. I could cite a hundred examples of it, which the reader will meet on his way through ; I crave pardon for referring to only one of them, which is very curious from several points of view. The casuist inquires if children born of the intercourse between a beast and a human being should be baptized. Yes, he replies, if it is the offspring of a man and a beast ; no, if it is that of a woman and a beast ; for in the first case alone can it be reckoned a descendant of Adam ! (p. 546.) Thus woman is, in the eyes of the Jesuit, only a kind of soil in which the human plant may sprout ; she belongs to the species of man only by virtue of this nutritive capacity. Do not ask the casuist to understand anything whatever of the noble sentiments which are the honor of humanity. He does not know what love is ; he knows only fornication. He pollutes with his unwholesome reveries whatever is holiest and purest in the world. It is not only the bed of the newly-married, the mysteries of which he explores with an insatiable lewdness inspired by jealousy ; he also eyes askance the chaste conversations of those affianced to each other ; he brands with his vile suspi- cions the embraces of sister and brother, of father and daughter, of the mother and her little child (p. 521), and also the first heavings of the soul which is just awaking, the plays of childhood, which he hates and calumniates (p. 539). On all these joys, on all these caresses, on all these exquisite graces his slimy trail is found, like the slime of the snail on the most brilliant flowers. If he knows not what love is, nor even shame,* no * See the incredible position supported by the Jesuit, that for a woman to yield herself to others, to have children by them, is not to wrong her future husband (p. 454). 32 more does he know what dch'cacy is, or generosity, or devotion,* or friendship, or personal dignity, or civic duty, or love of country ; he is so profoundly ignorant of these noble things that he knows not even their names. You will not find a single one of these words in the whole Moral Theology of Gury. All that makes the heart of humanity beat leaves him cold. Do not speak to him of progress, of fraternity, of science, of liberty, of hope ; he does not understand ; in his obscure corner he minces up erroneous con- sciences, secret compensations, mental reservations, scandalous sins, and out of it all he endeavors to make up some compound or other wherewith to brutalize and enslave humanity. For he degrades whatever he touches. Suppressing conscience, giving over freedom of will into the hands of a director, using information — even against the confessor, who is to him an object of suspicion, as being commonly a secular priest — as a means of gov- erning souls, narrowing men's horizon, clipping their wings, perpetuating around thought and conscience a twilight which is worse than night, since in it every- thing becomes doubtful and takes the appearance of a shadow ; this is what he has done to all those on whom he has laid his hand. I say nothing as to the French clergy whose present representatives would take in bad part the setting up of any contrast be- tween them and their predecessors. But the French nobility, once so sensitive, so high-spirited, so gen- erous in spite of its frivolity, find it if you can, now quite insipid, without spring, no longer armed with iron, but with scapularies and blessed ribands. And * Neither for one's country, of which the Jesuits, who have no country, never speak, nor for one's fellow creatures, for no one is bound to sacrifice himself for others, not even for a sick husband or wife, desertion of whom is excused, commanded even at a time of danger, (p. 529) 33 the commonalty, once so robust and sober minded, fond of work, of progress, and of liberty, see them now, helpless, frightened, given up to every reaction. And they were about to lay hold on the magistracy; they were putting out their hand towards the army — these two safeguards of a nation ! Truly it was time our eyes were being opened ; for cleverer still than Simon, the accursed magician, they were not only trading in things sacred for money, but also in things material for pious mummery. Happily, among those whom they brutalized, they themselves must be counted at the head. It has often been remarked that in three centuries they have not produced one man of the first or even of the second rank. But they do not appear to be aware of it; they calmly place Bellarmine over against Richelieu, Suarez against Pascal, Rapin against Corneille, and Nonotte against Voltaire. Not with impunity can one's heart and mind be subjected to such a discipline. I have often, in read- ing the Jesuits, called up in my own mind the picture of what a thorough product of their intellectual and moral manufacture would be. Look ; it seems to me I see him, while I write, gliding along yonder carefully in the shadow of the wall. Not that he always takes the lowly guise which comedy gives him ; he often holds high language, and an arrogant mien. But you will recognize him by this, that you will never see his eyes, for the constitutions and his masters have taught him always *' to look lower than the one to whom he is speaking ; " his secret thought will escape you, and his closed lips will not betray him. But whatever he may be, young or old, humble or bold, if he is thoroughly impregnated with these authors, or Gury only, distrust him, distrust him all. Mistrust him first of all, you young woman ! Do not say that you have no fear, because he is bound to 34 you by betrothal, a semi-sacramcnt. For if your fortune vanish, or his increase, he will abandon you without remorse, with the authorization of his director, (pp. 418, 452.) He will even have the right to do so if there is between you and him a marked difference of social position (p. 447), and that whatever may have been his previous protestations, (p. 525.) Mis- trust him, for if inflamed by his unwholesome studies he brings you to harm, even after a solemn promise of marriage, he can in like manner abandon you, you and your child, (pp. 204, 280, 470). Mistrust him even if he marries you, for in the first place he can by the simplest process have that marriage annulled at the end of two months, by declaring that it has not been consummated (p. 421), and leave you, maddened and dishonored. Mistrust him, for if in pronouncing the sacramental words he had very positively the intention not to contract marriage, your marriage will be null ; understand this clearly, (pp. 458, 459.) Mis- trust him, as he will mistrust you, for he knows, if you are a pupil of the same masters, that you can, without remorse, and in the full belief that you are doing him ** no wrong," yield yourself to others before your marriage, and conceal from him the existence of children brought by you into the world, (pp. 419, 454.) Mistrust him, you his wife ; if any disease attacks you which may be communicated, for his moral law does not oblige him to give you attention that might be fatal to himself (p. 529.) Mistrust him as he will mistrust you, for you may abandon him also, and else- where the casuist authorizes you to draw from his purse in an alarming fashion, (pp. 175, 219.) Mistrust him, you, his father, for if he dares no longer in the noonday of the Nineteenth Century denounce you to the criminal judges when you become heretical or an outlaw, he will be authorized to do violence to your conscience at the supreme hour of 35 death (p. 115), for in order to hide himself in some convent, and that unknown to you or in spite of you (p. 1 16) he will abandon you, though old and wretched, persuaded that he is doing an action pleasing to God. (p. 346.) Mistrust him, for if he can no longer con- gratulate himself on inheriting your property, after having killed you (p. 550), he will at least be allowed to *' congratulate himself on the succession which your murder will have obtained for him." (p. 73.) Mistrust him, for if on your death-bed you charge him with some gift of a friend, he will have the right to disobey you in your last wish. (p. 295.) Mistrust him, you his child, for he is allowed to wish for your death either with a view to your eternal happiness, or with a view to diminishing the expenses of his family, or to set you far from the danger ot sinning, (p. 85.) Mistrust him, you his brother, for he can by repre- senting you as unworthy at the bedside of your dying fathei, deprive you of your rightful share in the inheritance, provided he does not do it through hatred of you (p. 234) ; for he can abandon you, you and your family, in wretchedness, without remorse, and take his fortune to a neighboring convent (p. 347) ; for he can skilfully make good out of the paternal inheritance what he may consider as an injustice committed against him. (p. 209.) Mistrust him, you his friends, for he is authorized to betray all your secrets, even the most particular ones, when he may judge that there is any interest at stake, whether of the Church or of a third person (p. 456) ; do not entrust him with a letter, for he will always be able to find some good reason for opening it without sin (pp. 157, 163), and if your secret is a bad deed, remember that he can divulge it to all those who may have any great interest in knowing it (p- 153) ) ^^^ ^o "ot ^^"^ h^"^ books, for if he con- % 56 siders them bad, he will be authorized not to return thenfi, at least while you do not threaten to trounce him. (p. 82.) Mistrust him, all you who have any business rela- tions with him, for in the case of doubtful clauses he may interpret them sometimes in one sense and sometimes in another, in all security of conscience for the furtherance of his interests (pp. 33, 43) ; for if he surrenders to you all his property, he may keep a part of it secretly, with a view to supporting himself and his family (p. 263), and even of concealing moneys due him (p. 251) ; for he will invent ingenious occult compensations which border on swindling (p. 225) ; for if you make a will, he will always find some means of having the benefit of it, without fulfilling its condi- tions (pp. 282, 296), and he will have learned some very peculiar ways of leading you to make this will (pp. 196, 293) ; and he will be able, without anxiety of heart, to conceal faults in its form (p. 62) and to repair material accidents (pp. 294, 327) ; if you refuse, take care to declare that he owes you money, without which he will find a reason for not paying it to your heir (p. 292) ; for if you lend him your horse and it is stolen from him, he will refuse to pay you anything (p. 301) ; for if you entrust money to him he will trade with it and keep the profit for himself (p. 303) ; for he will be satisfied that he does not commit any injustice in combining with others to embarrass your auction sale (pp. 276, 307) ; for he will have a thousand ways of excusing himself from making restitution to you of what he owes you (pp. 193, 201, 202) even if he may have defrauded you (p. 191) ; for, and this is worthy of a whole poem, he can wish you a temporal evil and rejoice in it for a good end. (p. 79.) Do not lay a wager with him, for he is full of devices for making dishonest wagers without sin. (p. 318.) 37 Do not play with him, for he will behave like an infamous sharper, in all security of conscience, (pp. 319, 321.) Do not believe his promises and his oaths, on the ground of his piety, when he sells you any- thing ; they are but trifling peccadilloes allowed to merchants, (p. 275.) Do not take him as a domestic servant, for he knows thoroughly the theory of petty thefts, thefts of pro- visions, and of the conditions of restitution (p. 182), and if he thinks that you do not pay him enough, and make him work too hard, he will find means to establish a fair equilibrium, (pp. 188, 223.) Mistrust him, toll keeper, customs officer, treasury agent, whoever you may be, for he does not allow the lawfulness of your impost, and he will defraud it by all possible means ; do not interrogate him, he will lie, and that under oath if need be ; he is authorized to do so. (pp. 62, 206, 254.) And watch him well if he is a notary, for he will conscientiously assist in defrauding the revenue, (pp. 255, 344.) Mistrust him, members of the Council of Revision, for he cannot consider himself bound to make any reparation if he fraudulently causes another to be sent in his place, (p. 207.) Mistrust him. Colonel, for he will lawfully desert if he does not find in the regiment facilities for going to confession, (p. 206.) Mistrust him, judge, when he appears before you as prosecutor, as accused, or as witness. In vain you will make him raise his hand, and swear by Christ, his God. In almost all circumstances he will find means of escaping you, (pp. 148, 157, 158, 162, 288, 327, 343,) and if you condemn him he will be able to compensate himself secretly for your condemnation, if he thinks his conscience acquits him. Mistrust him all, and keep away from him as from one infected with the plague ; neither your property, nor your life, nor your honor are safe near him. I 38 For if he advises and instigates a thief to plunder your house, he will owe you nothing (pp. 194, 197, 243) ; for if he is a judge, and in complicity with his colleagues renders against you an unrighteous judg- ment purchased with money, he will owe you nothing (p. 244) ; for if his children or his servants have caused damage on your property, he will owe you nothing (p. 245) ; for if he sees a thief carry off your property, and receives money as the price of his silence, he will owe you nothing (pp. 247, 262) ; for if he has set fire to your house while seeking to rob you, he will owe you nothing (p. 195) ; for if he has killed your cow while intentionally shooting at your ass, he will owe you nothing (pp. 12, 196, 258) ; for if he has burnt your house while meaning to set fire to your neigh- bor's, he will owe you nothing (pp. 194, 236, 242) ; for if he has been guilty of theft, and you are accused and condemned for the theft, he will owe you nothing, even when he may have committed the theft for the purpose of having you accused (pp. 195, 220) ; for if you are the creditor of a man whom he has assassi- nated, he will owe you nothing (p. 204) ; for if you are the wife or child of a man whom he has assassi- nated, and if this man lived a bad life (p. 252), or even must have died soon (p. 203), he will owe you nothing; for in no case will he owe you anything, if in killing your father he thought he was assassinating another (p. 236), or if he has intentionally murdered your father, when you are able to provide for yourself, (p. 203.) For he can slander you freely, if ever so little skil- ful and apt at his lessons (pp. 154, 162); and even when the slander is without excuse and requires reparation, he can dispense himself from it if he con- siders the preservation of his good name '* useful to religion" (p. 155); for he can seduce a young girl even under promise of marriage, and make her a 39 mother, then desert her without a thought, if he can plead that there is ever so little inequality of social position either before or after the promise (p. 525) ; and do not speak to him of coming to the help of the poor girl, for he will answer you grandly, " that the loss of virginity can neither be valued nor indemni- fied " (pp. 204, 253) ; for if you take at his house poisoned food intended for another, he will not warn you, and furthermore, he will owe nothing to anyone after your death, (p. 236.) Fly from him, for he has at his disposal " extensive mental reservation and equivocal words " (p. 148), which allow him in fact to lie every time he has need of it. Fly from him, for the doctrine of probabilism will always allow him to find a grave doctor, whose opinion will be enough to make his action lawful, and will authorize him to do whatever he has any interest in doing, (p. 3I-) Fly from him, because once his opinion is formed, he will violate with an easy conscience all civil laws, and if he is condemned by the judge, he may fully and tranquilly make use oi secret reparation, (p. 186.) For this point must be insisted on. In virtue of the doctrine of intention, he comes to substitute his own authority for all authority ; for him there are no longer any laws, cither civil laws or family ties, or laws of honor, or anything of what forms the current that binds together all the elements of a society. He will do such and such a thing if he finds it good, for if he has on his side any doctor of ability he has the right to consider it good ; in all cases, the act being done, since he has acted in accordance with an invmcibly erroneojis conscience, and since he has not committed any tJieological faulty he is not bound to any reparation, and if the civil judge allows himself to command such he will recompense himself justly. 40 Such would be, when fully developed, the best pupil of Jesuitical doctrines. Happily they have, I believe, never produced one who was so thorough ; that honesty which is the foundation of human nature asserts its superiority both with the pupil and the teacher ; and especially in France, the land of generous impulses. It is doubtless for this reason that during three cen- turies not a single Frenchman has been sufficiently impregnated with the Jesuitical spirit to deserve the rank of General. But is not such teaching even mitigated by good sense and a native feeling of honor, a real social danger ? Who can say how many generations would be needed for those noble qualities which still keep up the struggle, to be stifled and vanquished ? As for me, I cannot think of it without shuddering. May the reading of the present book communicate to all my sincere and profound dread ! May the liberals who at the present time are most compromised by a generous logic, understand that principles are not made for those who put themselves outside of prin- . ciples, and that freedom of exchange is not violated because we exclude from our ports bales infected with the plague. v.. o c c o m 03 (U U O (0 >^ iH O *^ 5 -P q «^^ •H tI 4* ?J -P Ti w ^ m Ho > OJ ''^'--, e* 'd i: o u ..-1 O O o ^ 9 •s u o o l-l 4-» I 2: J^M^riMitaU^M^Mi ■'- - ^-it,iuf.. . ..^ i^jUMfatsMi^i^^-. ;.:..: ,-.,r-., ..^,...... .,......, i„...... |?M r.',::i|fi| i » ' STANDARD WORKS ROMANISM PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY W. 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